This past Saturday I had the opportunity to attend the North Texas Sporting Spaniel Club’s (NTSSC) field trial. Unfortunately, the trail was for Springer Spaniels, so there were no Cockers in attendance. However, the format for Springer trials is identical to the format for Cocker trials, so it was a very good learning experience for me. I had been wanting to attend a trial for quite some time, but had never had one within a reasonable driving distance. So, needless to say, I was pretty excited when I found out about this trailing taking place so close to home.
I happen to be friends with one of the officer’s of the NTSSC, and as soon as I arrived at the trial grounds he came up to me and asked me if I would be the “bird shagger” for the next round (i.e. the guy with a basket over his shoulder who walks behind the judge waiting for dead birds to be deposited in his basket). Since I had never been to a trial before, and hadn’t even seen anything at this trial yet, I was a little hesitant to say yes, but he was able to persuade me into doing it. My instructions were to “stay in the back pocket of the judge.” I positioned myself behind the judge, intending to not say a word, but he turned and initiated a conversation with me. He was very gracious in explaining some of what was going on, and even asked me quite a few questions about my dogs. I have to say, the opportunity to shag birds was awesome. I was able talk to the gunners and judges while walking back from the course (not while dogs were actually running); and I was able to watch nearly every dog in the trial from close up, and noticed a lot of different styles of dogs, as well as handling techniques. I am definitely partial to Cockers as I found myself enjoying watching the smaller Springers much more than the larger ones, but I think I learned something from each dog that came through.
Several things stick out in my memory. One of these was the very first dog that I watched run. About 40 yards into his run he flushed a bird and moved about ten feet before sitting. The judge gave the handler a tap on the shoulder and that dog’s day was over. In a sick sort of way, I enjoyed seeing that even dogs that are run in the open division aren’t perfect. I also clearly remember watching the winning dog run in the first round. I had to leave at the end the first round, but I heard from my friend which dog won. I remember thinking that this dog hunted smarter and harder than the other ones, and also was very responsive to the handler. I was happy to hear he had won, as I figured that reflected well on dog discernment! On a side note, I think it would be very difficult to judge one of these trials. There are so many good dogs that come through that it must take a very critical eye to determine which dogs place and which ones don’t.
My purpose for going to the trial was two fold. One was to watch how it was run, and to get a general feeling for the event so that I’ll be more comfortable when I compete with Rocky in the future. Two, I wanted to see what areas I need to work on with Rocky in order to get him to that level. In regards to this second objective, I think the thing that stuck out most to me was the emphasis on the dog’s intensity and intelligence when quartering. I watched dog’s cover their ground very well, with high energy, and even adjust their patterns in relation to the wind direction. In applying it to Rocky, I saw a definite need to continue working on his pattern. He is coming along well in this area, but I need to continue focusing on smoothing out his quartering and making sure he covers all of the ground in front of me. I also noticed that there is not a huge emphasis on retrieving. The dogs are required to retrieve all game shot, but I didn’t see a lot of great marks, and I only saw one retrieve that looked difficult. I think that maybe I am spending a little too much time perfecting Rocky’s retrieving abilities and need to focus more on his hunting abilities.
Overall it was a great experience and I can’t wait to get involved in Cocker trials with Rocky. I didn’t feel for a second that he was outclassed by any of the dogs that I watched, although they are certainly trained to a higher standard than he is at this point. I feel confident that if I continue to work on smoothing out his pattern and get him steady to flush and shot (this is a big one and I’m working on it), we can at least compete without embarrassing ourselves!
I took Rocky out this evening for some work on his (you guessed it) quartering, and he paused long enough for this picture. What’s a blog post without at least one picture?!
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